The bible tells us that certain gifts are given to members of the body of Christ by God. Among many other gifts which are given are the gift of healing and the gift of the working of miracles. What we are going to examine for the most part is the gift of healing, but since they are so closely associated, we must also touch on the working of miracles at the same time.
The difference between the gift of healing and the working of miracles is such that healing is something that takes place over time and the working of miracles usually takes place instantly. A person who has the gift of healing can expect the person who is to be healed to improve over a period of time and if the gift is truly a gift of God, the person will achieve their healing regardless of their belief in the gospel of Christ. By the same token, the gift of the working of miracles is an instantaneous occurrence and requires no belief on the person’s faith.
The bible tells us that Jesus healed all the people who came to Him of all their sicknesses and all their diseases wherever He went. Although Jesus had the gift of healing, the healings that He performed should probably be classified as miracles since the bible infers that these healings took place instantly. Nowhere does the Bible infer that that any of these healings took place over any period of time.
There was one instance pointed out in the bible where Jesus did not perform any mighty miracles in His home town because of the unbelief of the people in Him. The scripture says in Mark 6:5: “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.” This being the opinion of the writer of this passage, I would take with a grain of salt, as I cannot believe that Jesus could not do any miracles, except He probably chose not to because of their attitude.
We are going to examine the healing ministry of William M. Branham that began in 1946. I’m sure that there were other healing ministries before and after his, but since I am more familiar with his ministry than any of the others, we will comment on his only.
According to William Branham, he received a visitation of an angel from God to advise him of a commission from God to proceed out on a ministry of Divine Healing that would take him around the World. Following is what the angel was reported as saying to him:
"Fear not. I'm sent from the Presence of God to tell you that this peculiar life of yours, peculiar birth... that you’re to take. a gift of Divine healing to the peoples of the world." And said, "If you'll be sincere, and will get the people to believe you, there will be no disease stand before your prayer, not even to cancer."
I know that when I heard William Branham many times over and over, I just accepted what the angel told him and accepted it without giving it a second thought. It really grieves me in my heart to even question what the angel told him, but something about it really didn’t make a lot of sense to me and the truth is all that I want to understand, hopefully without grieving the Spirit of God.
The angel told him that he was being given the gift of Divine Healing, but then the angel said there was a condition attached to it. Now if this was a gift of Divine Healing, then it should have been a gift that William Branham could have used at will and it would have been effective every time because it was a gift from God. If there were conditions put upon the use of the gift, then it really wasn’t a gift.
The angel told him that it would be necessary for him to get the people to believe him that he did have this gift from God in order for it to work. If it was going to require the faith of the people in him having this gift for it to work, then it was based upon the people believing him and it no longer was a gift that he could put in operation at his will.
Then the angel said something about prayer. He said that when William Branham prayed for the healing of the people, not even cancer could stand before his prayer. Now came another condition for his gift of Divine Healing to work, he had to pray to God before the gift would work. If this Divine gift was really a Divine gift from God, it shouldn’t have been dependent upon getting the people to believe him and not upon him having to offer prayer in order for God to do the healing. So it really wasn’t a gift that he could use at will.
Time and time again during his services, William Branham would tell the people that he couldn’t heal anyone, that it was God who did the healing. If so, then he didn’t have a gift of healing. So, why then would the people have to believe in him having this gift of Divine Healing if all he was to do was to pray for the sick and God would then heal them?
Were sick people healed during his services? I was not a first hand witness to any, but reports from others said that people were healed and some instantly. If so, then those instant healings should have been recognized as healing miracles as was some that were reported. For the most part the healings that did take place were as a result of their faith. These would be called faith healing and not Divine Healing. Again, faith healing would take place over a period of time and divine healing would be instantaneous, thusly a miracle healing.
Just another thing that we need to touch on is two signs the angel told William Branham would be in operation to get the people to believe that God has sent him for their healing. Here’s what was said:
He said, "You'll be given two signs, as was the prophet Moses." He said, "One sign will be that you're to--you'll detect diseases through your hand. When the people contact you, well you'll be able to tell them what diseases they have through a supernatural discernment." And then said, "If you'll be sincere, then it will come to pass that you'll tell the people the secrets of their hearts, and the things that they've done in life that might've hindered their healing, and so forth."
So, the angel said that these two signs would build up the faith of the people to accept that God has sent him with a gift of healing and believe that God will heal them. The first sign was very effective in building up the faith of the people and when healings began to take place, he started receiving calls from many places for him to come and minister to them.
I would like to reconcile what the commission really was in light of what the angel said to him, but the statement was very confusing as it appeared that he was being given a gift, but it had conditions associated with it, so the gift really wasn’t a gift. The real commission, as I see it, was to get the people to believe that God had sent him to pray for their healing and with the vindication of the two gifts convincing them, their faith would bring on their healing from God.
So to conclude, this did not appear to be a gift of Divine Healing for William Branham, but a ministry to draw the people to God through their faith to believe the Gospel and receive their salvation.
The success of William Branham’s ministry caused many other ministers across the land to startup their own faith healing ministries. Many of then attempted to copy the signs that Branham used to buildup the faith of the people, but never worked for them because it wasn’t the real thing.
There are some, who for their own reasons disputed the success of William Branham saying it was all trickery and false methods were used to fool the people. These people continue this day some 50 years after William Branham died by writing books and using the Internet to dispute that God used him.
Although, they can’t argue with success and dispute the untold number of souls that were saved Worldwide.
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